Trombone Champ: Unflattened is a great VR implementation of an already fun game. It has been translated into VR in a very loving and careful way. The tracking is superb, the menus are flawless and it has none of the VR messiness sometimes associated with the medium. Flat2VR Studios have done a magnificent job and I will certainly be keeping an eye on them in the future.
I did enjoy my time with Outlaws, I just wish I had enjoyed it more. Technical issues and inconsistencies brought down what I thought was a varied and entertaining experience. However, if you love Star Wars and see this title on sale, it may be worth a punt. There is fun to be had in Outlaws, even amongst it’s niggly flaws.
I was unimpressed with Brothership. I wanted a new Mario and Luigi game quite badly and as this shows, you should probably watch what you wish for. It’s lacking in story, presentation, a stable framerate and the constant hand-holding is infuriating. The only saving grace is that the premise of it is interesting and the battle system is massively entertaining.
If you are a fan of Zelda games or old-school RPGs you will love Echoes of Wisdom. It’s one of my favourite games of the year and just shows that even if you change the core mechanics of a fan-favourite franchise, as long as it’s done with love and care, it can be a great success. Echoes is a perfect blend of old-school Zelda with sprinklings of open-ended puzzle-solving seen in more recent entries in the series.
Astro Bot is not only one of the best games I have played this year but one of my most fun video game experiences in recent memory.
I had seen a few videos and heard rumblings about this game when it was released on the PC. The world went a little mad for it, and to be fair, I now can see why. I was not, however, ready for how addictive this little gem could be. How can a game with no buttons, just using a thumbstick, be so bloody moreish. Welcome to the Rapid Reviews Vampire Survivors Nintendo Switch review.
Rewind back to 2001, young Sebby was playing an amazing, turn-based war game on his Gameboy Advance called Advance Wars. He was besotted by the cartoon art style. The amazing pixelated skirmishes took up a lot of time, as did moving tanks and destroying his enemies. Times were good man; times were good.
I have always enjoyed sports and, with it, the video game counterparts that try to emulate the intense competition and rivalry I enjoy so much. From PGA Tour to Hot Shots golf and Wii Sports to Rockstars Table Tennis, I have played many sports simulations over the years, but this is my first Quest 2 sports game review. Welcome to Tennis League VR.
Roguelike, you say? Card battler? Deck-builder? In the vein of Slay the Spire? Well, why didn’t you say so? I adore Slay the Spire and adore roguelikes, so surely Pirates Outlaws (which I think is a weird name) will be a surefire hit. Load your pistol, grab a parrot, and let’s sail the high seas! AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHH!
If you had told me a few weeks ago I would have been reviewing Just Dance, I’d have told you that you’re off your rocker. Don’t get me wrong, I did very little dancing overall but I did a lot of watching my family prance around my living room like nutters. I like to throw some shapes now and again, but others in my household love this game a lot more than I do. I can see why to be fair, if you love to groove, there’s nothing better on the market.
Ahhhh, nostalgia, there is something warm and fuzzy about returning to something you remember vividly from your childhood. Monkey Island is a series I played a lot growing up and it was a blast returning there recently. It is a lot different now though on the Nintendo Switch, if you had told me I would be able to play Monkey Island, on the go when I was a nipper, I would have laughed in your face but here we are. Isn’t technology great?
I love music and I adore video games, when these two hobbies clash in an out-of-the-ordinary way, I am all ears… and possibly eyes too! We are OFK is a unique experience that follows an eclectic band over five emotional episodes while they record an EP. Each episode finishes with a controllable music video and each episode is chock full of feelings, angst and other socially-based nightmares.
If you are as old as me and let’s be honest, you’re probably not, you would have loved thumbing through choose-your-own-adventure books as a kid. If you are a whippersnapper and have no idea what I am talking about then these were adventure books with choices. At various intervals in the book, you would be given a choice, to attack the snake turn to page 10 or to give it a wide berth, turn to page 20, those kind of free-flowing shenanigans.
I have a long-time affection for the Monster Hunter series. Ever since Monster Hunter Freedom on the PSP back in 2005, I have hunted more Rathalos than you can shake a Gunlance at, I have carved more tails than you can count and it has all been glorious. There is something great about joining up with three friends and stripping a huge dragon, using its parts for better gear and getting deep into all the intricate systems that litter the fabric of Monster Hunter.
It’s not very often I get sent physical copies of stuff, so you can imagine my joy when I was offered a physical copy of Ikai to review. Having not known anything about it, knowing nothing of its form or function, I was happy to give it a bash. Unfortunately, this is where most of my joy ended.
From the moment I started Mini Motorways on the Nintendo Switch, I had a nagging thought of familiarity in the back of my mind. A scratching déjà vu sensation like I had been here before. When I did some research, I quelled that feeling and realised I had played the developer Dinosaur Polo Club’s previous outing Mini Metro on my phone. They both feel similar and the mechanics are very much aligned. Phew, I am not going mad!
Triangle Strategy may be a bit of a weird name but it’s another role-playing game from the mind behind Bravely Default and Octopath Traveller, so everyone knows roughly what to expect. Lovely warm pixel-art, a tightly-woven narrative and a rewarding combat system are what I want, so let’s dig into it.
I have loved every Drinkbox Studios game I have played. I loved the uncanny Mutant Blobs Attack, the Guacamelee series is one of my favourite Metroidvania’s ever created and Severed was so brilliantly unique on the PlayStation Vita. Their art style is unique, their gameplay rewarding but most of all, everything Drinkbox Studios make, is fun and let’s face it, that is why we are all here.
After seeing the trailer for Dungeon Munchies on the Latest Nintendo Direct Indie Showcase I thought it looked like a fun game that may be right up my street. Unfortunately, even though Dungeon Munchies does have a few things going for it, I found it hard to get through and found myself, in the end, forcing myself to play. I am, however, glad for games like this. The indie space is where the developers can push the boat out and try new things, even if sometimes they don’t quite come off.
About a year or so ago the internet went a little insane over a little indie game called Loop Hero. Unfortunately, at the time it was PC only and due to me working with the darn things all day, I use them as little as possible at home. (He says as he types up a game review on his laptop, life eh?) The buzz words surrounding Loop Hero were, alone, enough to get me salivating. Deck-building and Roguelike are two of my favourite mechanisms, so I am already on board. Does it live up to the hype? Let’s find out!